However, in 1764 Bishop Terrick began a further extension and rebuilding, and it is to him we owe the idea of the second quadrangle or courtyard. He died too soon to complete his project, and left only the western wing of the new courtyard, but his work was carried on by his successor, Sherlock. The design was distinctly good, particularly for that age of debased taste. Engravings of Sherlock's palace show battlemented angle towers, and a recessed main building which is very picturesque. In the southern wing he placed the library and dining-room, and on the eastern side he made the chapel. When Bishop Howley came into power, he set to work at once to alter the palace of his predecessors, and replace it by something which can only be described as a block. He levelled the frontage between the towers, and cut off the battlements, and made the building much as we see it now, with the exception of the modernization of some of the windows. Howley then converted the building made for the chapel into the library, which it still remains. It includes the famous collection of books made by Bishop Porteous. The rooms on the south side became under Bishop Howley's modifications the dining and drawing rooms, and the great hall he used for a chapel.
It was not until 1867, under Bishop Tait, that the present chapel was opened. It is connected with the main building by a passage, and stands on the river side of the palace. It was designed by Mr. Butterfield, and is bright and well proportioned. Behind the altar at present stands a reredos of carved wood with a representation of the Crucifixion.
The palace grounds have been considerably curtailed by the formation of the public park, which now bounds them riverwards. The idea of giving this portion of land to the public was carried out by Bishop Temple, though it originated with his predecessor. The park includes the long strip above mentioned, lying outside the moat, and the field to the north already spoken of in connection with the drive. The embankment has entirely altered the aspect of this part of Fulham, and the days when the Bishop of London "took water" at his private stairs have gone for ever.
Within the palace gardens are many curious specimens of trees not found elsewhere in England. Bishop Grindal was the first of the Bishops to take an interest in gardening, but it is to Bishop Compton that we owe the real beauty of the gardens. He was bold enough to defy James II., and to declare in the House of Lords that the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of the kingdom was in danger; he further incensed the King by refusing to suspend a clergyman who had preached a sermon against Roman Catholicism. For this he himself was suspended, and not allowed to exercise his ecclesiastical functions, though, as according to the law, the temporalities of the see were his own--they could not be touched. The Bishop therefore retired to Fulham and sought solace among his plants, to the great gain of his successors in the See.